All incidents are true; the timeline and events leading to the writer encountering various characters in some stories (especially the ones about yore) may be fictitious. Shooter has made his best attempt to keep people's identities confidential. The purpose of the blog is not to hurt or judge people but to provide an insight into an era gone forever and never to return.

Saturday, 7 January 2012

The longest noon

It would take Wilson Kipkater 1 minute 27 secondsIt would take a girl on a small pushbike 2 minutesAn old disabled person in a wheelchair 8 minutesHeck even a tortoise could do it in 2 hoursAnd it took me a full 3 hours.But I’m getting ahead of myself, let’s start from the beginning.

Day 1.

I could smell them. I had never really used my smell in this sport before and didn’t have faith in it. Ears yes, eyes definitely but nose never. All I knew about smell was that that theirs was stronger than mine so I had to keep the wind in my face to not let the adversaries have an upper hand.So when I smelled them, I wasn’t able to pinpoint the distance or the direction with any certainty. The Grass was a foot high and the heat soaked trees threw hazy shadows that melted in the grass. Suddenly I see some golden shadows glide into the distance. No that can’t be it. 20 deer running together over dry grass lined with dried leaves with nary a sound. They surely can fly. How’s one supposed to follow flying deer? I had been on their trail for a couple of hours in the hot summer North Queensland sun complete with a facemask and full camo-clothing and all I had to show for it was a mental image of 20 flying-deer rumps!

Deer: 1; Shooter: 0

Yours truly at the beginning of the hunt:

As you must have figured out, I’m talking about my latest deer hunt in Queensland Australia. I was hunting on a cattle ranch. The ranches there are thousands of acres big and the property had a very healthy population of chital deer. As far as I could make out the area I hunted in was unfenced and the deer were free range. I studied the map. Surely being this hot, they would head for the next cluster of shade bearing trees. So I slung the rifle over my shoulder, pocketed the map, took a swig of my water from my bottle and set off. It was a Google map, not a topographical map so I didn’t realise that coming off the bend in the estuary, the land would be higher than the next cluster of trees and that the deer with their magnificent eyesight would see me before I spotted them. The next clump of trees

So once more I was treated to the flying deer rumps.

Deer: 2; Shooter: 0

Well, I bent down and went to the grove of mangroves to study the deer slots.

Deer slots

Deer dropping. Notice the typical concavity on one side which is the hall mark of deer species.

I could see another clump of mangroves. This time I wouldn’t take any chances. So I bent down and walked on all fours towards a depression in the direction of the clump of trees. Down in the depression, I could again smell them. I lay still and after about 5-10 minutes, a head appeared. It was a doe. Then another and another. 3 does damn it; I held them in my sights but as I was after a buck, didn’t pull the trigger. Soon a few more deer appeared at the rim of the depression but all young bucks so. I waited. They were all grazing oblivious to me and in the typical grazing fashion drifted away in time. Soon I could see them no more as they walked further and further away. After another few minutes, I decided to get up and follow them on all fours. No sooner than I had shouldered my rifle, out stepped two antlered stags, one of them really magnificent. My rifle was hanging diagonally across my back as this position made it easier for me to drop down on all fours but in this position, it also caused the most movement to get it off and into the firing position; enough to ensure another glance of those wonderful flying rumps.

Deer: 3; Shooter: 0

It was way past midday then and I decided to head back to the camp for lunch. On route I saw many small ponds and dams full of geese and ducks. Unfortunately, duck hunting is banned in Queensland.

While crossing a riverbed, I came across a riverbed and happened upon wild boar slots:

I had a quick lunch and off to stalk chital again. This time I didn’t have to go far from the farm. There was a herd of stags maybe a kilometre away and there was a depression which looked like a dried up pond 400 yards before them. I got into the depression and started crawling towards them very slowly. In about half an hour, I had covered about ¼ distance when I realised that they were grazing away from me. Now, remember chital can walk faster than a man can crawl so the crawl was losing battle. No matter how hard I tried to crawl faster, the chital kept on getting further and further away so that in about 2 hours they were out of sight. Now many of you might ask why I didn’t shoot from approx 350 yards. Well firstly the chital were in the shade of a tree and in a group. I wanted to pick up a stag I wanted and those of you who have hunted know that trophy judgement from a distance is a skill that comes with practice. Some people can do it from a kilometre away but I had to get to approx 250-300 yards to get a proper judgement.

Coming back to the story, I tried to go into the direction of the chital on all fours and got to them by dusk but by then a herd of cattle had mixed with the group. Not having a safe backstop, I decided for the herds to pass each other but by the time this happened, the light wasn’t good enough for trophy judgement or shooting.

Deer: 4; Shooter: 0

Thus ended the day one of my hunt. With a heavy heart, weary body and hopeful spirits I returned to my accommodation. Tomorrow would be a better day.

Day 2I was determined to pit my non-existant hunting skills against an opponent with a sense of smell 20 times better than me, a 300 degree visual field, and a superhuman sense of hearing, not to mention it being one of the fastest animals on the planet and yet emerge victorious.I went to the area where I had left off yesterday and there were deer standing in a field about 500 yards away. On looking through the binoculars, I saw only a single antlered male but couldn’t judge the size properly. I tried to sneak up to them but to my dismay, there was no wind to help me by dispersing my scent away. They were off in a second.

Deer 5; Shooter: 0

I drove to another area of the ranch and saw a herd of around 10 deer moving towards a clump of trees into the distance. I watched them lying down on the dry river bed. Approximately half a mile separated us. The sun baked earth threw up mirages and the rising hot air danced to distort one’s vision so that the herd appeared like phantoms gliding away.

Silent.

Smooth.

Swift.

The Phantoms did not stop till they reached the clump of trees at the horizon. I couldn’t see them anymore but knew that this is where they would rest till the sun in his harsh prime mellowed down to its balmy self on his eternal journey through the unforgiving cloudless skies.

A plain grassland flat as a pancake separated us. The only cover and shade was offered by a solitary lone dwarf palm tree. A foot high pile of dead decaying Branches underneath indicated as a probable snake hideout. I wasn’t going to risk it.

It’s funny how seemingly flat ground can take on its own topography when viewed lying face down on the ground. A tuft of grass can be a bush affording a hiding place; every slight bump is a hill behind which to crouch.I did a quick mental calculation.

600 metres. 660 yards. Moving from ‘cover’ to ‘cover’ would add at least 10% to the journey. So it would be a good 700 yards. 2100 feet. In the classic crawl, cradling my rifle in my hands, using the elbow-knee movement to thrust me forward. One such ‘step’ propelled me about 6 inches; 1 foot in one full cycle of right-left so I needed to do approximately 4200 steps or 2100 cycles. Given that one could do one cycle in 6 seconds, it would be hours before I got to my destination.

I knew that I would every ounce of strength to do this crawl marathon. I couldn’t take off my face mask or full sleeved camo. To make matters worse, I had left the water bottle at the camp.Well I could try walking on all fours till the lip of the riverbed and begin my crawl from there.

And so it began.

Right elbow forward.

Right knee forward.

Push.

Left elbow forward.

Left knee forward.

Push.

Right elbow forward.

Right knee forward.

Push.

Left elbow forward.

Left knee forward.

Push.

I wish doing that was as easy as writing it from the comfort of my study. You see, there are some things best experienced. I had the smart forethought of putting on professional grade kneepads, only to realise that while crawling, it’s the inside of the knee that’s in contact with the ground, not the part that’s protected by the pads. Climbing even a small mound seems like a hill. And no sir, one simply can’t manage to side step, nay side-crawl all the heaps of cowpat, thorns, deer spoor and what not.

I could feel the skin inside my clothes and this was confirmed when the salty sweat hit poured out of my every pore including those parts rubbed raw by the constant crawling. I was to find out later that that day was the hottest day so far in North Queensland. To make matters worse, I had landed in this summer only two days ago from a miserable freezing British winter.

My heart beat like a drum and the heat fogged up my sunnies. It didn’t matter because the vision from 4 inches above the ground is limited to a few feet. The world for me existed in finding the next tuft of grass I could hide in. When the ground around you is barren, 3 inches of grass seems like a hedgerow.

I am interested in wildlife but I must confess I’ve never paid much attention to insect life. That day, I saw the insect life of north Queensland up, close and personal. Did you know that there is an ant with a bright green belly which tastes salty?! Or that the ones with the red belly can bite so badly, they can draw blood. And to make matters worse, one can’t jump around in pain nor flick them away or flail ones limbs when insects start to enter ones clothing. I saw a host of flies, one of which had a beautiful peacock blue colour. Did you know that the earth colour is different from 4 inches away than what it looks like from ‘above’?

I had bypassed the Pine tree trying to go past the ‘mound’ when suddenly a doe walked out of the ravine to my left. I stopped still midway between my crawl. The doe must have been less than 50 yards away looking directly at me. I knew that one movement from me could result in the doe being spooked and alerting the herd ahead. She looked at me for what seemed like an eternity and all this while I just lay still as a rock. It then trotted away, and its gait told me it wasn’t alarmed. This really bolstered my confidence. At last I was doing something right.

However the sun was beating down with all its might and I was drenched. The wretched wind was still missing. I was now beginning to worry about the deer being able to smell me with my sweat pouring out. I remembered old tribal’s’ teachings as a child and decided that to crawl through as many animal droppings as I possibly could!I checked my watch, it had been just over an hour and I hadn’t even gotten halfway through. Already my limbs were aching and skin chafing. I was cursing myself for not bringing that water bottle with me. I closed my eyes and imagined myself standing over a magnificent stag. My mouth imagined the tasty venison stakes on the grill. This egged me on and I just gritted my teeth and pushed on.

Right elbow forward.

Right knee forward.

Push.

Left elbow forward.

Left knee forward.

Push.

I don’t know how many times I did this. I was oblivious to the ant bites. I couldn’t feel my limbs. Every time my limbs refused to obey me, I thought of me with the stag and the venison and crawled on. I didn’t realise till later that my belt had actually broken off, frayed by friction and fallen off somewhere along the route.By the time I came to the third clump of grass (on the map below), I rolled over facing the sky panting like a dog, my tongue hanging out like one and dog tired. After a few minutes rest I carefully rolled back and let out a groan on seeing what lay ahead; the deer were gone!!

What! All this hard work for nothing. While I was crawling imagining deer trophy with my eyes shut, the sly chital had again glided away.

Deer: 6; Shooter: 0

I was too tired to feel miserable and didn’t know what else I could have done to stalk them. I had given it my best shot and lost. I sat up my head resting on my knees. This movement made the woods come alive. Suddenly a whole herd of deer got up spooked looking at me.

What had happened was that the deer, tormented by the harsh sun had sat down in the cool shade and due to the shadows had become invisible between the trees in a way only a wild animal can. I realised this was my last chance.

I froze.

I waited.

The deer had seen some movement when I sat up but weren’t sure what it was. Soon they relaxed and started grazing again.

Revised score: Deer 5; Shooter 0.

They were still alert enough not to sit down again. Once more I became prostrate, as slowly as my aching muscles allowed. And thus began another leg of my crawl.

Right elbow forward.

Right knee forward.

Push.

Left elbow forward.

Left knee forward.

Push.

I reached the final clump of grass about 75 yards away. I rested a couple of minutes allowing my arms to relax. Very slowly I pulled open the bipod, making sure not to make it click. Looking through the scope, I picked out the various deer in the herd. Most of them were hidden in the trees, not offering a good shot. There was a small gap between the trees and through this gap I could see two stags. One had a good set of antlers and was showing me his neck. The other had an even bigger set of antlers but I could only see its belly. Do I neck shoot a good stag or belly shoot one with a bigger rack but risk a non-humane kill.

I waited.

Suddenly I could see the deer get a bit uneasy. Maybe they could smell me or maybe it was my imagination. I was deliberating whether to wait for the bigger stag to offer me a humane shot or to shoot the big stag. The big stag solved my dilemma. It turned offering me a perfect broadside shot.

I don’t know when I pulled the trigger but knew the bullet went home. I saw through the scope the deer leap up and take a few strides before dropping down. I sat up, looking at two deer that had come to investigate what had happened before running away. I waited a few minutes and then walked up to the fallen chital my rifle shouldered, ready to fire. I needn’t have worried.

Deer 5 Shooter 1

Anatomy of the hunt

I would like to share a few things with budding hunters. Always remember where the animal was standing when the shot was taken. Then wait a few minutes irrespective of whether you can see the deer or not. Then go to where the deer was standing and then check if there is blood around.

Bright frothy blood indicates a lung shot:

Then try to track the blood trail:

The engine room shot is the best shot especially for the newbie as it give the maximum kill area:

As you can see even after an engine room shot, the deer can cover a bit of a distance. This pic was taken from the point where the deer had stood when it was hit. You can see it about 70 yards away indicated by the arrow:

One mustn’t shoot through brush or foliage at an animal. Also note the backstop when shooting. Only shoot when absolutely safe to do so. You can see the clearing between the trees through which the shot was taken. I left a bigger stag since I didn’t want to gut shoot it. You can see the backstop was the ground on the far side:

Below is a rough map of the shooting area and the route I took:

Aftermath

Yours truly with the chital:

The rifle was a Remington model 7; Calibre 7mm-08. 140 grain Winchester ammo.We later measured the distance I had crawled to 600 metres in a straight line. The deer were another 75-100 metres away. My hands were raw and bleeding:

Ant bite on hand:

The episode lasted three and a half hours which means I had crawled more than half a mile over dry hard ground for about 3 hours. It felt longer than that. I can swear it was the longest noon of my life.